Page 363 of Of Empires and Dust

“I saw signs,” she said, moving forwards as he staggered backwards. “I saw you change and darken, but I ignored it all.” She brought her blade down twice in an overhead swing, smashing it against his in a fury before sweeping left then right and flicking the steel tip across his nose, slicing through flesh and grating bone. “I told myself I was seeing things. I told myself that if you were worried, you would talk to me. If you had fears,you would share them. Because we trusted each other.” Salara feinted left, and Eltoar took the bait. She twisted her blade down and dropped her right shoulder, slamming into his chest and sending him backwards once more. “Because we were family.”

When Eltoar caught his balance and looked at Salara’s face, he found tears mingling with the blood on her cheeks.

“You were everything to me. You were a friend, a mentor, a father. I thought we were more. If you had come to me… we could have done something. We could have stopped all of this. You just had to come to me.”

“You were too young, Salara. You didn’t understand. Your heart was too full of dreams, your head too full of legends and stories.”

“So you waited until the night you were to slaughter our kin? Was I suddenly old enough then? Or were you hoping to pull me into your shame and your darkness after my choices were already stripped from me?” Dried blood cracked at the corners of Salara’s mouth. “Was I too naive to comprehend that you wanted people to look at you the way they looked at Alvira? She adored you, loved you, trusted you. And the entire time you craved what she was, whatshehad.”

“That is not true.” In the back of Eltoar’s mind, Helios’s rage overflowed at the thought of Alvira and Vyldrar. Darkness had never threatened to swallow Helios’s heart more than the night he had killed Vyldrar.

“All great things require sacrifice,”Fane had said, time and time again. Alvira and Vyldrar had been Eltoar and Helios’s greatest sacrifice, the most necessary to ensure victory. The two dragons had been like brothers… and it had nearly broken him.

“It is true. But you always failed to understand one thing that I, in all my youth and lack of understanding, with my head of dreams and stories, saw clear as day. You could never have whatshe had because she was better than you. In her heart and in her soul.”

“She was weak!” Eltoar roared, his blood burning, memories of Alvira flitting through his mind.

Salara closed her eyes and gave a soft sigh, a new tear carving its way through the blood and dirt on her cheek. “There it is,” she whispered. “There’s the anger I know consumes you. You always told me that I needed to control my fury and not let it control me. But you were wrong. It wasyouwho was ruled by anger. You buried it deep down as you have always done, until it festered, until it clawed its way free and the world suffered. Your anger made you vulnerable, Master. It gave him cracks to pry open.”

“She stood by and watched it all happen.” Even as Eltoar tried to push his anger down, Helios refused. The black dragon roared in Eltoar’s mind, then hurtled towards Vyrmír, the two of them crashing through the sky, lightning flashing about them. “I kept trying to tell her, Salara. I kept trying to show her that a gentle hand only walked us more slowly towards our graves. She allowed The Order to be torn down brick by brick, allowed it to rot, allowed it to?—”

“At least she tried!” Salara surged forwards, swinging her blade at Eltoar’s side, moving from Waiting Mantis into Still Night and then to Setting Sun. “You gave up on us!” Steel carved left and right as Salara moved into forms Eltoar had never seen, a movement he did not know. She flowed like water, the blade an extension of who and what she was, just as he had taught her. “You gave up onme!”

Salara stepped inside Eltoar’s guard, throwing all form to the wind, and launched herself at him. Her shoulder connected with his breastplate, and they both went crashing to the ground.

She fell atop him, her sword lost in the tangle. She slammed a fist down into his face, his cheekcrunching. “You took everything!” she roared again, punching him again, the steel ofher gauntlet slicing open his flesh. “You’re a monster! You will never be like her! You will never be loved because you are empty and cold, and?—”

Eltoar swung his elbow and smashed it into Salara’s face, feeling somethingsnap, her cheek bursting open, blood spraying from her already-broken nose. He grabbed the arm loops in her chestplate and swung her to the ground, slamming her down. In an instant, the Spark filled him, and a glistening blue níthral took shape in his fist, the blade levelled at Salara’s throat. “I loved you like a daughter! I lovedher!”

A warning flashed in his mind from Helios. Vyrmír broke free from Helios’s grasp and plummeted towards them, leaving Andrax and the other two dragons to slash at Helios.

Salara leaned forwards, blood dripping from her throat. “Kill me. Kill me, and add me to the list of Draleid you have slaughtered. But I want you to know now, you have lost…” A smile cracked her lips, and she laughed. “At this moment, Vandrien marches on Anaduin and Elkenrim. Berona will fall next, with or without me. It is already in motion. I tell you because you can do absolutely nothing to stop it. The empire you built on the bones of our kin is dead. For what is an empire without souls to name it so. You failed. And your name will forever be inked as he who bled the dragons from this world.”

Eltoar’s hand shook, his níthral scraping the skin from Salara’s throat.

“Kill me!” she roared again, the veins popping in her head and neck. “You fucking coward! You are no Draleid. You are a demon.”

Eltoar clenched his jaw, staring down at his old apprentice. In his mind, he saw back to that day in Ilnaen, in the northern hatchery tower, Dylain’s broken body lying on the floor, Fane’s voice in his ears.“All great things require sacrifice.”

“No…” The words trembled as they left Eltoar’s lips, his entire body shaking. He stared into Salara’s fury-filled eyes. “I will not sacrifice you.”

Eltoar released his Soulblade and stepped backwards. “I’m sorry… I caused all of this. I failed you and I am sorry and I know that it means nothing.” He swallowed hard. “There is still something I can do. Whatever the cost. I can fill some of the cracks. I can give them a chance.”

Eltoar savoured the sight of Salara’s eyes, of her dark hair, of the proud warrior she had become. A warrior he would have given anything to have fought beside. “I didn’t deserve you.”

He turned and walked back towards where he had dropped his blade when Salara had tackled him.

“Don’t walk away from me!” Salara roared, leaping to her feet, Vyrmír alighting behind her with a force that shook the ground.

The wind swirled around Eltoar, dirt and loose blades of grass whirling in the air as Helios landed, blood trickling from a thousand cuts, a score of deep gashes along his side and a tear in his right wing.

“Go,” Eltoar called out as Helios lowered his head.

“We are not finished!” As Salara roared, the other three dragons landed on either side of Vyrmír. Andrax’s pale yellow scales were crusted with deep wounds and clotted blood, his left eye savaged. The crimson dragon limped on one leg, and the smaller black dragon had a deep wound along his flank.

“I have two friends to mourn,” Eltoar called back, resting a hand on Helios’s neck. “You have three. Five dragons died today. We are done. Leave now. I do not want to add more to that number.”

As Eltoar started to climb Helios’s neck, Vyrmír leapt forwards, jaws opening, flames flickering in his throat. Helios was upon him in a heartbeat.

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